The short story “ A Man Who Was Almost A Man” by Richard Wright is about a young man named Dave who struggles with being able to grow up and become a man. Dave has a hard time growing up and becoming a man because of his mother and his father. His mother realizes that he is not fully prepared to take on the task that a man would have to perform so she keeps him sheltered. Dave believes that if he gets a gun that the will be recognized as a man. Dave has the concept of being a man misconstrued. Dave’s lies indicate to the people around him that he is in fact not prepared for the responsibilities of manhood. Throughout the story, Dave tries to flip the truth in his favor so that he can buy the gun, by telling his mother that it was his father .for example, he convinces his mother to give his two dollars to buy the gun. He doesn’t follow through on his promise to his mother to give her the gun after he bought it. Instead he continued to lie. Like a child, he fails to realize that lying won’t protect him but only bring more problems. Being a man is not about recognition or power, but it is about setting standards and living up to life’s expectations.

This short story has two major themes. The first theme that I would like to analyze is the search for power. Dave feels like he is trapped in a society that takes his personal and financial power from him. He sees his life as abused and humiliated. He is forced to obey his parents, work as a field worker who never receives his pay, and the other field workers always ridicule him. The feeling of being degraded by his cultural society came form the different forces that keep him from achieving his goals and pursuing his dreams. The idea of owning a gun is a way for Dave to become manly and powerful quickly. He feels that having a pistol in his hand with give him power and control over others. This sense of power lasted until he killed his boss’s horse named Jenny. Jenny’s death put a major hold on his...

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...The ManWhoWasAlmost a Man
Character Analysis
In Richard Wright’s “The ManWhoWasAlmost a Man”, there is only one main character, Dave Saunders, and a handful of secondary characters. Dave Saunders is a seventeen year old, “long, loose-jointed limbed” African-American boy living in what seems like the South, either in Alabama or Louisiana, judging from the fact that the Illinois Central railroad runs through the area where he lives. Dave is struggling with growing up and is trying to achieve a sense of maturity that he is not yet ready for. His idea of being a mature adult is to own a gun, since all the men he works with on the field own one and practice shooting them. He thinks that if he gets one and shoots with the men, they will accept him as one of their own. Dave is the only round character in this short story since he is the only character whose thoughts we, the audience, are able to read. By reading his thoughts, we gain insight on his feelings and mental state. Dave seems to be fascinated with brute strength and power, which he sees as the only way to gain status in society. He isn’t a normal type of character looking to find his place in society by being murderous. Most of those characters know exactly what they are doing and have foresight to the consequences of their actions. Dave is unique because in his mind,...

...Trapped Inside Freedom
The stories “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and “The ManWhoWasAlmost a Man” by Richard Wright create two distinct characters, Jane and Dave, who are eventually destroyed by their obsessions. They both reveal the consequences of impulsive and desperate actions of their main characters attempt to free themselves from their proverbial prisons. Through the use of imagery and symbolism, Gilman and Wright present the compelling need in us all to be powerful and unrestrained.
To escape from their individual constraints, Jane, the narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” and Dave, “The ManWhoWasAlmost a Man,” become fixated on objects that eventually lead to their destruction. Striving to get well from a sickness that her husband John does not believe exists, Jane begins to become engrossed with an unappealing wallpaper. Treating her like a child with an overactive imagination, John forces her stay in a room “with windows [that are]barred” (747), and a “great immovable bed” (750). Symbolizing the stereotypical 19th century marriage, the wallpaper becomes a hated entity, one that must be demolished. Gilman writes:
“The color is hideous enough, and unreliable enough, and infuriating enough, but the pattern is torturing. . . . I pulled and she shook, I shook and she pulled,...

...Throughout the story, The ManWhoWasAlmost a Man there were three core setting of this story which include but are not limited to the store, Dave's house, the store, and the field. From Dave's point of view, which the story is told, the moods around these setting alter greatly. In Joe's store his qualities goes from normal to happy. In his house his mood changes very frequently. His mood also changes repeatedly in the field as well. The mood rang from happy, to excited, to sad, and also felling guilty.
In the field where he works at the beginning he works with other people who are bigger and older than he was. It appears that they talked to him as if he was a child and Dave didn't appreciate that at all. He felt that he was becoming a man and he wanted to be treated as if he was one. He felt a gun would give him an opportunity to show them that he was a man, and should be treated and respected like one. In the beginning he was distressed by working in the field. Later on after obtaining his prized gun, his frame of mind changes to excitement as he walks to work for his boss, Jim Hawkins and his mule Jenny, he anticipates firing the gun for the first time. Dave works a while, then his enthusiasm gets the best of him and he takes out his gun ready to shoot it for the first time...

...The ManWhoWasAlmost a Man," Richard Wright, portrays a young manwho wants to be a man, but shows that he is clearly unprepared for manhood and the consequences that come with that responsibility. Through decision making based on self interest, wanting to gain respect from his family, and wanting to prove his dignity, Richard Wright brings forth the main character, Dave, a seventeen year old boy, whose actions show that he is only "almost a man."
Throughout the story, many of Dave's decisions were based solely on his own interests. In fact, everything that Dave did was for his own interest, whether good or bad. An example of this would be Dave's decision to purchase the gun after begging his mother for money. Dave promised his mother that he would bring the gun right back to her so that she could give it to his father. Instead, Dave went against his mother's will and hid the gun from her. Knowing that making decisions are geared toward, a person's self interest and their beliefs, it is easily understood why Dave decided to buy the gun from Joe. Dave felt that with a gun, everyone would have to respect him, therefore he thought that a gun would make him a man regardless of his age. A person's decision making can display whether or not that person is mature enough to accept manhood, but can also...

...The Definition of a Man
When a boy is being raised from a baby to a man he is taught to be the strongest he can be. In most situations, every little boy wants to be the biggest and the best at what ever he does. One question for every child is “what is the child ready for?” and “when is the child ready for it?” In Richard Wright’s, “The ManwhowasAlmost a Man”, a young boy yearns to be aman. The child has certain responsibilities, but the young boy is ready to take on more than he can handle.
Dave, a young black child desperately wants a gun. The local shop owner believes that Dave is ready to be considered a man, not a boy. The young boy is 17 years old and is working full time over the summer, to him he is doing the same as all the other adults. Dave, however, is far from a man. In order for Dave to buy the gun he has to ask permission as Dave’s wages go directly to his mother to be put away. Dave is denied permission from his mother to buy the gun so he begins to beg. After becoming nothing but a nuisance his mother finally gives in, on the condition that the gun is for his father. One must ask, is begging the behavior of a real man? The answer is no. This shows how Dave is not as mature as he portrays to be. Within hours of having the gun Dave lies to his mother, another quality that would not be found in...

...Becoming a Man
Coming of age is a young person’s transition from adolescence to adulthood. For most this can be a very difficult time and can cause a lot of pressure, especially for teenagers. In Richard Wright’s The ManWhoWasAlmost a Man, the main character, Dave, thinks he is ready to show everyone that he is a man. Dave wants people to give him more respect and treat him like aman; however, his actions seem to backfire leaving him with less respect than he had before.
In the beginning of the story, when Dave is introduced, right away we gain knowledge of the fact that Dave wants a gun. He believes if he shoots a gun then the black people he works with in the fields “can’t talk to him as if he were a little boy.” (Wright pg. 1609) Dave goes to Mr. Joe’s store to borrow his catalog so that he can find a gun to purchase, but he discovers that Mr. Joe is selling his own gun for only two dollars. He takes the catalog home in attempts to bring the idea to his mother. Dave knows that he can easily persuade his mother so he goes to her instead of his father. After a little bickering, she finally gives in and tells him he can by the gun since Dave convinces her that the family needs a gun. His mother says “Ahll let yuh git tha gun ef yuh promise me one thing. Yuh bring it straight back t me, yuh hear? It be fer Pa.” (Wright pg. 1612) Dave gets very excited...

...﻿The ManWhoWasAlmost a Man
Dave Saunders lives in a world where all of his individual rights and privileges are completely stripped from him, strictly because of his ethnicity. His family and everybody around him live similar lives and that it working on a farm day in and day out and not seeing any profits. I feel Dave is humiliated with the life he lives and is sick of how he appears to society. He wants to seem manly, and therefore he decides to purchase a gun, making him look powerful to those among him. What Dave does not understand, however, is that becoming a man takes time and he is not ready for the responsibilities that come with it. Although he thinks that owning a gun will solve everything, they in turn result in problems that he cannot handle. A man in this society is expected to work to earn money to provide for their families, and that is how they earn their respect. Dave is ashamed of his background and how society sees him, which is why he decides to escape from it all at the end of the story.
When a man is attacked or verbally abused, it is generally instinctive for the man to stand up for themselves, not just for self pride, but because they are scared of what society would think of them if they didn’t. In the beginning of the story, the reader becomes aware of a situation in which Dave was involved in. He...

...Danielle O’Neil
04/07/13
Prof Howard
Engl-222
The ManWhoWasAlmost A Man Response
The ManWhoWasAlmost A Man by Richard Wright is a coming of age story about 17 year old black field worker Dave Saunders. Dave longs to be a man. He wants to be free to run his own life instead of having to work for Mr. Hawkins and have his pay taken up by his parents. He wants to be regarded as an adult instead of being called a little boy everywhere he goes. Dave believes that having a gun will automatically make him the man he wants. Unfortunately, Dave is sadly mistaken. The gun only gets him in more trouble than he has bargained for.
The ManWhoWasAlmost A Man is a story full of powerful symbolism that deeply relates to human existence no matter what culture one is from. At one point or another all humans have to make the transition from childhood to adulthood. Within every child there is a longing to be respected and to have power and control over one’s own life. Dave falsely believed that this power and control would come from a gun.
The gun is symbolic of whatever one places their adulthood in. In American culture, one of the possessions that transitions a child into adulthood is a car. Cars symbolize status, wealth, and power in our...

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